Features

The Athlon64 Series offers a few nice features which we are going to discuss now.

SSE3

The Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 which AMD got in exchange for AMD64 (Intel: EMT64) from Intel is now used in the AMD CPUs. According to Intel multimedia and multi-threaded applications benefit most from SSE3.

NX-Bit - "Enhanced Virus Protection"

AMD introduced the NX-Bit to "improve computer security". This function works only when Windows XP with SP2 is installed and tries to stop execution of malicious code (viruses). Unfortunately this protection "works" only with viruses which use Buffer Overflow techniques.

Cool'n'Quiet

The advantage of Cool'n'Quiet is, that the CPU is clocked down (to 5x200 - 1000 Mhz at 1.1V), when no computation power is needed. This reduces heat output and makes it easier to keep the CPU cool, or decrease noise levels and power consumption. Once power is needed, the clock returns back to normal, basically on-demand performance.

AMD64

The AMD64 or x86-64 or x64 is a 64-bit processor architecture invented by AMD. It is a superset of the x86 architecture, which it natively supports. The AMD64 Instruction set is currently used in AMD's Athlon 64, Athlon 64 FX, and Opteron processors.

AMD64 represents a break with AMD's past behavior of following Intel's standards, but follows Intel's earlier behavior of extending the x86 architecture, from the 16-bit 8086 to the 32-bit 80386 and beyond, without ever removing backwards compatibility. The AMD64 architecture extends the 32-bit x86 architecture (IA-32) by adding 64-bit registers, with full 32-bit and 16-bit compatibility modes for earlier software. Source: Wikipedia

Test Systems

Test System "Venice"

CPU:

AMD Athlon64 3800+ (S939; 512KB; Venice)

Motherboard:

DFI Lanparty nForce4 SLI-D

Memory:

TwinMOS Twister PC3200 Pro (TCCD)

Video Card:

2x Pine XFX 6800 GT SLI @ 450/1200

Harddisk:

2x 74GB WD Raptor RAID 0

Power Supply:

OCZ ADJ 520W

Software:

Windows XP SP2, Forceware 76.44

Test System "Winchester"

CPU:

AMD Athlon64 3200+ (S939; 512KB; Winchester)

Motherboard:

DFI Lanparty nForce4 SLI-D

Memory:

TwinMOS Twister PC3200 Pro (TCCD)

Video Card:

2x Pine XFX 6800 GT SLI @ 450/1200

Harddisk:

2x 74GB WD Raptor RAID 0

Power Supply:

OCZ ADJ 520W

Software:

Windows XP SP2, Forceware 76.44

Our AMD Test Systems are fully watercooled (30°C water). For CPU cooling a HV3 waterblock from 1A-Cooling is used. Modern air coolers with a high-flow fan are almost comparable to watercooling.